B.B. King, Lucille and Gibson: The origins of a lifelong partnership - LA Times B.B. King, Lucille and Gibson: The origins of a lifelong partnership Entertainer of the year | 2005 Lisa Poole / Associated Press B.B. King performs in Lowell, Mass., in 2005. B.B. King performs in Lowell, Mass., in 2005. (Lisa Poole / Associated Press) Ryan Faughnder Contact Reporter The late blues musician B.B. King forged one of the most enduring relationships in music history — with his guitar Lucille. It's the name the 15-time Grammy winner, who died last week at age 89 in Las Vegas, gave his beloved Gibson ES-355, one of the most famous instruments in history. But there was more than one Lucille in King's life. The first guitar to take the name was nothing fancy. In 1949, King rescued his $30 Gibson L-30 acoustic from a fire at an Arkansas venue that started with two men fighting over a woman named Lucille. King named the guitar after her.

The bluesman played many different guitars over the years (mainly Gibsons), but the instrument most associated with him is the Gibson ES-355 semi-hollow body electric he played for decades. A variation on Gibson's ES-335 semi-acoustic, the ES-355 had been King's instrument of choice since 1959. Henry Juszkiewicz, chief executive of Nashville-based Gibson Guitar Corp., said the association with King has been a boon for the company and its image. “We've acquired a bit of his halo,” Juszkiewicz said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. The least important historical fact about B.B. King , who died in Las Vegas on Thursday, is the one most people know: that he played the blues on a guitar he'd named Lucille. But that ax and her tone, while melodic and often transcendent, are the least of King's contributions. In fact, Lucille's... The least important historical fact about B.B. King , who died in Las Vegas on Thursday, is the one most people know: that he played the blues on a guitar he'd named Lucille.

But that ax and her tone, while melodic and often transcendent, are the least of King's contributions. In fact, Lucille's... (Randall Roberts) Plenty of musicians have strong associations with the guitars they play — Eric Clapton’s Stratocaster and Angus Young’s red Gibson SG come to mind — but few have built the legacy of King’s Lucille and her sweet, stinging wail. PHOTOS: B.B. King | Life in Pictures King even wrote a 10-minute song about his guitar called “Lucille.” Released on a 1968 album of the same name, it tells the story of the prized guitar, and also chronicles his own rise from Mississippi plantation worker to “King of the Blues.” No single aspect of his talent earned B.B. King the title of “King of the Blues,” a musical throne he occupied modestly but authoritatively for more than half a century. But to hear many of the world’s greatest musicians talk about Riley B. King, the man born the son of a Mississippi sharecropper... No single aspect of his talent earned B.B.

King the title of “King of the Blues,” a musical throne he occupied modestly but authoritatively for more than half a century. But to hear many of the world’s greatest musicians talk about Riley B. King, the man born the son of a Mississippi sharecropper... (Randy Lewis) King often played “stock” guitars, sometimes stopping by a Gibson showroom on the day of a set to pick one up. In the early 1980s, King and Gibson teamed up for a special Lucille model, removing the f-holes to limit feedback. As he got older, he developed a taste for more ornate guitars to go with his colorful jackets and black bow tie. Gibson's black B.B. King Lucille 2015, which lists for $4,199, features gold-plated hardware, mother of pearl inlays, and, of course, the “Lucille” signature on the headstock. Juszkiewicz admits the company doesn’t sell many Lucille guitars, but noted that interest could pick up in the wake of King’s passing. A 2007 Guitar Player magazine article quoted King explaining how he settled on his trademark instrument.

“Fenders, Gretsches, Silvertones — you name them, I’ve probably had one,” the guitarist told the magazine. “When I found that Gibson with the long neck, that did it. That’s like finding your wife forever.” Juszkiewicz said Gibson was considering various ways to honor King in the near future and would discuss options with his family. The company may put on an event at Gibson’s factory in Memphis, Tenn., off Beale Street, and probably create something more permanent at the location. Fittingly, the building is just a short walk from a B.B. King’s Blues Club. Juszkiewicz said King will be best remembered for his soul and his sound, which is inextricably linked with Gibson. King and his guitar produced a tone that was his, alone. “It was like someone's voice,” Juszkiewicz said. “You can hear one note played by B.B.

and you know it's B.B.” Follow Ryan Faughnder on Twitter for more entertainment business coverage: @rfaughnder ALSO: Gibson Guitar Greats: BB King Gibson Guitar Greats: BB King 09.29.2016 In a new series, Gibson.com examines the work of some Gibson guitar greats. We'll start with the legend that will always be B.B. King. If you don't adore this man's music you a) probably don't have a pulse b) you don't like guitar. Hands down, one of guitar's true stars... Who was he? The King of the blues. He was also known as “The Chairman of the Blues Board.” Alongside fellow Gibson players Albert King and Freddie King, B.B. was part of the so-called “three Kings” of blues who emerged in the 1950s, but B.B. reigned supreme. He was born Riley King in 1925 and passed in 2015, aged 89. King bought his first guitar for $15, with money saved from working driving a tractor on a plantation. As a Memphis native, B.B. was well-placed to become a Gibson legend.

Riley first gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", which was later shortened to "Blues Boy" and finally to “B.B.” It was in Memphis that he first met T-Bone Walker, another pioneer of electric guitar. King recalled, "Once I'd heard him for the first time, I knew I'd have to have [an electric guitar] myself. 'Had' to have one, short of stealing!" Signature Sounds King was a great singer and songwriter, but quickly became revered for his guitar playing. King's technique/style was unique. Trilling notes, flourishes and a vibrato that was instantly recognizable. B.B. didn't talk too much about his sound – he was self-taught and didn't seem happy talking “theory”. But that was just fine. B.B. is not about theory or learning. He's about feel and emotion. B.B. King could make a guitar “talk.” As John Lennon once said, “I just wish I could play guitar like B.B. King.” But you can learn from King. His command of knowing when to play – and when not to play – remains exemplary. King and Gibson B.B soon fell for Gibson guitars around 1950.

He particularly loved Gibson ES-335 guitars when they were launched in 1958. They became his “sound” and he was honored with his own “Lucille” model in 1980. (The story of why it's “Lucille”... well, that's another story!) The Gibson Lucille model is still made today. At heart, it's an ES-355. It has the 6-way Varitone switch for various tonal options but no f-holes. B.B. used to stuff towels into his earlier ES-335 f-holes to eliminate chances of feedback. But Lucille is still semi-hollow. When I have got to play one, it's been one of the greatest guitars. Brilliant build-quality and superb tone. Shame I can't play like B.B. King, just like John Lennon couldn't... King once told Guitar.com of his Gibsons, “We have an old saying in my vocab, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' So why should I try to play something else? I don't play the one I play well enough.” B.B. was modest to the end.

Essential Listening His Live At The Regal album (1965) remains one of the most-acclaimed blues albums in history. Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and Mark Knopfler, have acknowledged using the album as a primer before their own live performances. They knew they had to try and match it. His duet album with Clapton, Riding With The King, (2000) is superb, but quite polished. Of course, there are numerous compilations available for a man with such many blues hits. He released over 60 albums! If he had just one signature song it is, of course, “The Thrill Is Gone.” Learn more at the B.B. King Museum . Learn about the Gibson Lucille . Photo Credit: Gary Miller Photography 'King of the Blues' Blues Legend B.B. King Dead at Age 89 'King of the Blues' Blues Legend B.B. King Dead at Age 89 Pin it Share LAS VEGAS (AP) — B.B. King, whose scorching guitar licks and heartfelt vocals made him the idol of generations of musicians and fans while earning him the nickname King of the Blues, died late Thursday at home in Las Vegas.

He as 89. His attorney, Brent Bryson, told The Associated Press that King died peacefully in his sleep at 9:40 p.m. PDT. He said ffuneral arrangements were underway. Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg confirmed the death. King’s eldest surviving daughter Shirley King of the Chicago area said she was upset that she didn’t have a chance to see her father before he died. Although he had continued to perform well into his 80s, the 15-time Grammy winner suffered from diabetes and had been in declining health during the past year. He collapsed during a concert in Chicago last October, later blaming dehydration and exhaustion. He had been in hospice care at his Las Vegas home. For most of a career spanning nearly 70 years, Riley B. King was not only the undisputed king of the blues but a mentor to scores of guitarists, who included Eric Clapton, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayall and Keith Richards. He recorded more than 50 albums and toured the world well into his 80s, often performing 250 or more concerts a year.

King played a Gibson guitar he affectionately called Lucille with a style that included beautifully crafted single-string runs punctuated by loud chords, subtle vibratos and bent notes. The result could bring chills to an audience, no more so than when King used it to full effect on his signature song, “The Thrill is Gone.” He would make his guitar shout and cry in anguish as he told the tale of forsaken love, then end with a guttural shouting of the final lines: “Now that it’s all over, all I can do is wish you well.” His style was unusual. King didn’t like to sing and play at the same time, so he developed a call-and-response between him and Lucille. “Sometimes I just think that there are more things to be said, to make the audience understand what I’m trying to do more,” King told The Associated Press in 2006. “When I’m singing, I don’t want you to just hear the melody. I want you to relive the story, because most of the songs have pretty good storytelling.” A preacher uncle taught him to play, and he honed his technique in abject poverty in the Mississippi Delta, the birthplace of the blues.

“I’ve always tried to defend the idea that the blues doesn’t have to be sung by a person who comes from Mississippi, as I did,” he said in the 1988 book “Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music.” “People all over the world have problems,” he said. “And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.” Fellow travelers who took King up on that theory included Clapton, the British-born blues-rocker who collaborated with him on “Riding With the King,” a best-seller that won a Grammy in 2000 for best traditional blues album. Still, the Delta’s influence was undeniable. King began picking cotton on tenant farms around Indianola, Mississippi, before he was a teenager, being paid as little as 35 cents for every 100 pounds, and was still working off sharecropping debts after he got out of the Army during World War Two. “He goes back far enough to remember the sound of field hollers and the cornerstone blues figures, like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson,” ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons once told Rolling Stone magazine.

King got his start in radio with a gospel quartet in Mississippi, but soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where a job as a disc jockey at WDIA gave him access to a wide range of recordings. He studied the great blues and jazz guitarists, including Django Reinhardt and T-Bone Walker, and played live music a few minutes each day as the “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to B.B. Through his broadcasts and live performances, he quickly built up a following in the black community, and recorded his first R&B hit, “Three O'Clock Blues,” in 1951. He began to break through to white audiences, particularly young rock fans, in the 1960s with albums like “Live at the Regal,” which would later be declared a historic sound recording worthy of preservation by the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. He further expanded his audience with a 1968 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival and when he opened shows for the Rolling Stones in 1969.

Read More King was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received the Songwriters Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, gave a guitar to Pope John Paul II and had President Barack Obama sing along to his “Sweet Home Chicago.” Other Grammys included best male rhythm ‘n’ blues performance in 1971 for “The Thrill Is Gone,” best ethnic or traditional recording in 1982 for “There Must Be a Better World Somewhere” and best traditional blues recording or album several times. His final Grammy came in 2009 for best blues album for “One Kind Favor.” Through it all, King modestly insisted he was simply maintaining a tradition. “I’m just one who carried the baton because it was started long before me,” he told the AP in 2008. Born Riley B. King on Sept. 16, 1925, on a tenant farm near Itta Bena, Mississippi, King was raised by his grandmother after his parents separated and his mother died.

He worked as a sharecropper for five years in Kilmichael, an even smaller town, until his father found him and took him back to Indianola. “I was a regular hand when I was 7. I picked cotton. I drove tractors. Children grew up not thinking that this is what they must do. We thought this was the thing to do to help your family,” he said. When the weather was bad and he couldn’t work in the cotton fields, he walked 10 miles to a one-room school before dropping out in the 10th grade. After he broke through as a musician, it appeared King might never stop performing. When he wasn’t recording, he toured the world relentlessly, playing 342 one-nighters in 1956. In 1989, he spent 300 days on the road. After he turned 80, he vowed he would cut back, and he did, somewhat, to about 100 shows a year. He had 15 biological and adopted children. Family members say 11 survive.

___ BB King And Lucille: Meet The Blues Legend's Famed Gibson Guitar BB King And Lucille: Meet The Blues Legend's Famed Gibson Guitar 05/15/15 AT 9:07 AM B.B. King and Lucille were inseparable. Photo: Reuters Any artist needs the perfect tool to create his masterpiece. For B.B. King, the legendary blues musician who passed away Thursday at the age of 89, it was a modified black Gibson ES-355. Named "Lucille," the guitar has its own incredible journey that includes being stolen and found in a Las Vegas pawn shop. Before we get to how Lucille was stolen, we need to start at the beginning. As King tells it, he and his band were playing a small nightclub in 1949 when a fight broke out. Two men started a fire, and while everyone was scrambling for the exits, King realized he'd left his guitar inside. Luckily, he grabbed the guitar and later found out the fight was over a woman named Lucille. That's how a legend was born. Lucille would still have her exalted place in the pantheon of guitars if she had been King's main instrument.

In fact, throughout the years, there have been several guitars named Lucille, but one of them was stolen from King in 2009. Gibson celebrated King's 80th birthday in 2005 with a custom line of Gibson ES-355s built to his specs -- from the fretboard to the strings down to the pickups -- and presented the first Lucille prototype model to King as a present. The guitar was stolen in 2009 and presumed lost. Eric Dahl, an avid guitar collector from Nashville, found a slightly used 2005 Lucille model in a Las Vegas pawn shop. After some research, he realized it was the same Gibson guitar that was stolen from King. Dahl arranged a meeting with King and returned the guitar in November 2009. "He was one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. He just kept shaking my hand and thanking me. He really thought he'd never see it again. His smile was a mile wide," Dahl said to the Associated Press . Lucille Was Always By BB King's Sideb.b. king, b.b. king dead, b.b. king death, b.b.

king guitar, lucille, b.b. king lucille, b.b king lucille guitar, lucille guitar, gibson lucille, b.b. king gibson guitar, b..b king gibson, gibson es-355YesEL IBTimes Top Ten Blues Guitarists Guitars | Empireguitars Top Ten Blues Guitarists Guitars Published October 17, 2012 10. Johnny A. Gibson Signature Model Boston local legend Johnny A. collaborated with Gibson in 2003 to create this unique modern guitar, and it has since become one of their most popular signature series guitar ever. The guitar’s hollow body and flat inner back make it one of the most unique, resonating guitars available today. And with a carved AAA maple top, a mahogany neck, and custom pearl inlays, it is one of the most visually stunning guitars on the market. 9. Rory Gallagher’s Fender Stratocaster Rory Gallagher’s 1961 sunburst Stratocaster was extensively modified and heavily worn. Gallagher used the same guitar for his entire 32-year career, he loved vintage fender guitars and produced timeless blues-rock music withthem.

All of the original tuning pegs were replaced, along with the scratch plate, the pickups, and the wiring. Gallagher installed a 5-way selector to replace the 3-way factory one. The sunburst finish was almost completely worn off by the end of Gallagher’s life. Without a doubt, the Strat’s wear and tear and customization make it a one of a kind guitar. 8. Jack White’s Airline Jack White of the infamous White Stripes used an original 1964 red and white JB Hutto Montgomery Airline most notably for the “Elephant” album. It is named for the blues player, J.B. Hutto, who used the guitar. White has had two of them. After he wore out the first one, a fan bought him a new mint 1964 Airline, the same exact model, on Ebay. Guitar Kits USA has recently been manufacturing re-issues of this guitar that are nearly identical to the original version, and they cost about $2000-$3000. 7. Warren Haynes’ Les Paul Warren Haynes is a self-proclaimed “Gibson man”.

He frequently used the Gibson Firebird and the Gibson ES-335, but his favorite guitar is a reissue of the 1958 Gibson Les Paul. Gibson collaborated with Haynes to make a Warren Haynes Signature Les Paul , modeled after his ’58 version with a few changes, particularly that the volume on the guitar can be changed without altering the tone. 6. Dan Auerbach’s Telecaster The Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach uses a Fender Jerry Donahue Signature Telecaster as his go-to guitar. Made by Fender and the folk/blues artist Jerry Donahue, this guitar is a beautiful piece of art that produces a unique vintage sound. 5. Muddy Waters’ Telecaster Ranked as the No. 17 Greatest Artist of All time by Rolling Stone, there is no question why Fender gave Muddy Waters his own signature Telecaster. The signature Telecaster that was manufactured for the public is an exact replica of the late ‘50s Telecaster that Muddy used; it even includes all the wear and tear that Muddy’s own guitar had.

To replicate it, guitar designer George Blanda went to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame and used rulers, calipers, and gauges on Muddy’s Tele. 4. Buddy Guy’s Stratocaster Buddy Guy loved his Strat for making his timeless blues music. It was the only guitar he consistently used, and Fender eventually let him design his own. His Signature Stratocaster rises to the standard of other Strats, and produces a vibrant, rich tone. It is available with an ash or polka dot body, and it is a beautiful guitar indeed. 3. Albert King’s Flying V Albert King preferred to associate himself with the Gibson Flying V. He started with a 1958 version, one of the most beautiful vintage gibson guitars , then moved on to a version built by Dan Erlewine in 1974, and had one built by Radley Prokopow after 1980. An interesting fact about King is he was left-handed, but he played on a right-handed guitar that he flipped upside down. 2.

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Signature Stratocaster Stevie Ray Vaughan’s favorite guitar was a 1959 model Fender Stratocaster given to him by his wife in 1974. He named the guitar Number One, and played it for most of his career. In 1992, two years after SRV’s death, a replica of Number One was released by Fender. It is what the Number One would be if it were brand new. It features a three-color sunburst, a maple neck with Dunlop 6105 narrow jumbo frets, and a pau ferro fingerboard. 1. B.B. King’s Lucille B.B. King named his ES-355 “Lucille”, a name of endearment to him. He adored his guitar and even wrote a song about it called Lucille. In 1980, Gibson produced the B.B. King Lucille model. It is a custom-built Gibson ES-355, manufactured specially to King’s liking.

Unlike the regular ES-355s, the Lucille Model has the name Lucille engraved on the headstock, has a maple neck, and no F-holes at the top. B.B. King had the F-holes removed to reduce feedback. In 2005, on B.B. King’s 80th birthday, Gibson released 80 special Lucilles, giving the first one to King as a present. It was later stolen from him in 2009, and returned to him after a fan bought it from a pawn shop and discovered it was stolen. Honorable Mentions for Top Ten Blues Guitarists Guitars Johnny Winter’s Gibson Firebird . Robert Cray’s Fender Stratocaster. Various Gibsons from Duane Allman, Dickey Betts and Derek Trucks. George Thorogood’s ES-125 and Bo Diddley’s Custom Gretsch Guitar . Instruments in Depth - The Guitar INSTRUMENTS IN DEPTH Flash is required for video playback Mark Mollica demonstrating the blues guitar BLUES GUITAR The blues is one of several musical folk styles developed by African-American artists during the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

It evolved from a rich genre of unaccompanied vocal music sung by poor African-American laborers throughout the southern states. Spirituals, field hollers, work songs and Scots-Irish narrative ballads all are said to have influenced the blues as a genre and, in turn, blues has had a significant role in the evolution of jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and hip-hop. Although there are many different varieties of blues, certain characteristics are shared by all forms of blues music. The 12-bar blues progression is common to almost all blues, as is the three-line rhyming pattern AAB. The bending of specific notes, called blue notes, also is typical of the style. Most blues music is sad in character, reflecting the difficulties of both the work environment and the private lives of the early blues masters. No other major musical genre is as tied to one particular instrument as the blues is to the guitar. Although blues music always has been first and foremost a vocal art form, musicians have used the guitar not merely for harmonic or rhythmic accompaniment, but as a way of amplifying and enhancing the spirit of a particular text.

Because most blues musicians are self-taught, with little concern about the correct way of playing the instrument, the flexibility of the guitar allows each artist to develop a style based on their own personality and temperament. Nevertheless, three major stylistic forms of blues and guitar playing developed in the early history of the genre: Mississippi-Deep South Blues, Texas Blues and East Coast Blues. The Mississippi-Deep South style, also known as the Delta Blues, is the oldest and therefore perhaps the most archaic-sounding of the blues styles. In this form, the guitar is used roughly and the playing tends to be more percussive than in other blues styles. The guitar might not often play full chords, but only fragments of the harmony as well as the melody. Drone notes are commonly used and objects are sometimes inserted into the strings for a noisy, percussive effect. Some of the most important early Delta bluesmen included Charley Patton (1887-1934), Son House (1902-1988), and Tommy Johnson (1896-1956). Many of these early masters of the blues were recorded in the 1920s.

The Texas Blues style developed as a more refined form of music. Although just as deliberate and direct, it was not as raw and rudimentary as the Delta style. In Texas blues, the guitar played a vital role, providing the text with sophisticated variations from verse to verse. An important contributor to the Texas blues style was Hudy William Ledbetter (1888-1949), known professionally as Leadbelly . Incarcerated several times for serious crimes including murder, Leadbelly became a dominant force in creating a repertoire of blues songs like Midnight Special and Good Night Irene. He was a virtuoso of the 12-string guitar and used it to spectacular effect in his performances. The East Coast Blues style was developed in the southern states of the east coast from Florida to Maryland, and also tended toward a degree of sophistication and elegance. The guitar playing was characterized by a high degree of organization and structure, with elements of ragtime. Often, a steady rhythm on the bass strings would be syncopated with melodic statements on the treble strings.

Important artists representing this style include Peg Leg Powell (1888-1966) from Georgia, Blind Boy Fuller (1907-1941) from North Carolina, and Tampa Red (1904-1981), also from Georgia. In many cases, blues musicians developed such individual styles that it is difficult to compartmentalize them into any school or genre of blues. Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is perhaps the best-known of the early blues legends. He is often referred to as the grandfather of rock and roll because he, in one way or another, has influenced so many rock guitarists. Shortly before his early death, he recorded a series of classic tunes including the seminal Cross Roads Blues. Howlin' Wolf (1910-1976) was born in Mississippi and also became an influential performer, not only on the guitar but on the harmonica, as well. In his youth, Howlin' Wolf played with Robert Johnson, and at the height of his career became one of the most recognizable blues artists. The same could be said of Muddy Waters (1913-1983), who originated the Chicago Blues .

Muddy played almost exclusively on electric instruments and, like Johnson, was a huge influence on the British rock explosion of the 1960s. Other important blues musicians of this era included T-Bone Walker (1910-1975) from Texas and Homesick James Williamson. Currently, the most recognizable and popular bluesman of his generation is B.B. King, who was born in Mississippi in 1925. B.B. has also been influential in the genre of gospel music. He can be recognized by a sweet and singing sound on a signature Gibson guitar he has named Lucille. Other famous living blues performers include Buddy Guy and Otis Rush. Blues musicians have used a variety of guitars to accompany themselves, from acoustic steel string instruments to resonator guitars to Fenders and Gibsons. Common techniques developed by blues guitarists include slide guitar and note bending. Muddy Waters (1913-1983), father of the Chicago Blues style Living legend B.B.

King in performance at the White House Texas bluesman Hudy William Ledbetter (1888-1949), better know as Leadbelly US blues musician BB King in hospital for dehydration (From Evening Times) US blues musician BB King in hospital for dehydration US blues musician BB King in hospital for dehydration US blues musician BB King is being treated in hospital for dehydration, his family have said. His daughter told the LA Times the 89-year-old's illness was caused by diabetes, which he has had for many years. King, whose career include his 1988 collaboration with U2, When Love Comes To Town, is regarded as one of the greats of the electric blues and is famous for his trademark Gibson guitar called Lucille. The performer, born Riley B King in Mississippi, began his recording career in the 1940s and has released more than 50 albums. He has also played with rock stars including Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He fell ill during a show last year and cancelled his tour after being diagnosed with dehydration and exhaustion.

1000+ images about BB King on Pinterest | Legends, Photographs and Guys Lucille. B.B King named all his guitars Lucille after he almost lost his life in a fire trying to save his first $30 dollar Gibson. Of all the Lucille's he is best known for playing variants of the Gibson ES-355. More Blues Legend B.B. King Dies at 89 | Billboard Blues Legend B.B. King Dies at 89 COMMENTS Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Blues musician B.B. King poses for a portrait with his Gibson hollowbody electric guitar nicknamed "Lucille" in circa 1970. The Mississippi guitar aficionado and father of Lucille was a tireless road warrior. B.B. King , the last of the Southern-born blues musicians who defined modern electric blues in the 1950s and would influence scores of rock and blues guitarists, has died. He was 89. The Mississippi-born guitarist, who had suffered from Type II diabetes for two decades, died peacefully in his sleep at 9:40 p.m. PDT Thursday at his home in Las Vegas, his attorney Brent Bryson tells the AP.

In October, King fell ill during a show and after being diagnosed with dehydration and exhaustion, canceled his concert tour and had not returned to touring at the time of his death. With his trusty Gibson guitar Lucille, King developed his audiences in stages, connecting with African-Americans region by region in the 1950s and '60s, breaking through to the American mainstream in the '70s and becoming a global ambassador for the blues soon thereafter, becoming the first blues musician to play the Soviet Union. B.B. King Rushed to Las Vegas Hospital: Report King, whose best-known song was "The Thrill is Gone," developed a commercial style of the blues guitar-playing long on vibrato and short, stinging guitar runs while singing almost exclusively about romance. Unlike the musicians who influenced him, Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker, for example, or his contemporaries Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin Wolf whose music bore geographic identities, King's music was not tethered to the style heard at the Mississippi plantation he was born on or the Beale Street sound in Memphis where he first established his career.

He took rural 12-bar blues and welded it to big city, horn driven ensembles populated with musicians who understood swing and jazz, but played music that worked a groove and allowed King's honey-sweet vocals and passionate guitar licks to stand out. His solos often started with a four- or five-note statement before sliding into a soothing, jazzy phrase; it's the combination of tension and release that King learned from gospel singers and the jazz saxophonists Lester Young and Johnny Hodges. "The first rock 'n' roll I ever knew about was Fats Domino and Little Richard because they were playing blues but differently," King said in the liner notes to MCA's 1992 box set King of the Blues. "And I started to do what I do now -- incorporating. You can't just stay in the same groove all the time. ... I tried to edge a little closer to Fats and all of them, but not to go completely." The universal appeal of King's guitar sound, admired by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Michael Bloomfield and Eric Clapton, and his welcoming performance style opened doors for him globally as he was one of the most consistent touring acts of the last 50 years.

For more than half a century King averaged 275 shows per year; in 1956 alone, he played 342 one-nighters. "I found that each time I went to a place I would get more fans," King says in the book The B.B. King Treasures. "I started to get letters, and in that area people would buy records. People thought I was making a lot of money because I was traveling a lot. That was the only way I could survive." King had a 40-year stretch on the Billboard 200 with 33 titles charting. His 2000 album with Eric Clapton, Riding With the King, hit No. 3, King’s chart peak. On his own, King hit the top 40 twice: 1970’s Indianola Mississippi Seeds, which followed the album that included “The Thrill is Gone,” Completely Well, hit No. 26, and Live In Cook County Jail reached No. 25 a year later. B.B. King is tied with Joe Bonamassa for most albums on the Blues Albums chart -- 25 titles since the chart started in 1995.

Live in Cook County Jailwas the biggest of 25 albums that landed on the Top R&B Albums chart, hitting No. 1 for three weeks during its 31-week run on the chart. Nine of King’s albums hit No. 1 on the Blues Albums chart, the last being Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2011 in 2012. King landed 35 songs on the Hot 100 between 1957 when “Be Careful With a Fool” peaked at No. 95 and “When Love Comes to Town,” a duet with U2, reached No. 68. King’s chart peak was “The Thrill is Gone,” his 1969 single that hit No. 15. King only had two other top 40 hits. King won 15 Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Nearly as famous as the man was the man’s guitar.

In the winter of 1949, while King was performing in a club in Twist, Ark., a pail filled with kerosene, lighted to keep the place warm, was knocked over during a brawl between two men over a woman, and the place went up in flames. “When I got on the outside, I realized then that I had left my guitar [a Gibson L-30 with a DeArmond pickup] on the inside. So I went back for it,” he told Jazzweekly.com. “The building was wooden and burning rapidly. It started to collapse around me, and I almost lost my life trying to save my guitar. B.B. King Cancels Shows After Falling Ill in Chicago “So the next morning, we found out that these two guys who were fighting were fighting about a lady that worked in the little dance hall. We learned that her name was Lucille. So I named the guitar Lucille to remind me to never do a thing like that again.” (King partnered with Gibson in 1982 to create a guitar the B.B. King Lucille.) Born Riley King on Sept.

16, 1925, in the Mississippi Delta near Itta Bena, he was raised on a cotton farm by his maternal grandmother, Elnora. His mother died he was 9, his grandmother when he was 14. He picked cotton on a plantation in Indianola, Miss., and his first recording, made in 1940, was the “Sharecropper Record” in 1940. King learned the guitar by studying Jefferson, Walker, Lonnie Johnson and his cousin, Booker “Bukka” White, who taught him the finer points of guitar. “I guess the earliest sound of blues that I can remember was in the fields while people would be pickin’ cotton or choppin’ or something,’ ” King recalled in a 1988 interview with Living Blues. “When I play and sing now, I can hear those same sounds that I used to hear then.” He believed gospel singing was a path to success and in 1943 joined the Famous St. John Gospel Singers, which was featured on WGRM, a gospel radio station. He sang in church on Sundays, then changed hats in the evenings to play for tips on the street corners of Indianola.

That same year he joined the Army, but his stay lasted less than three months. He spent his service days driving a tractor on a Delta plantation and his weekends at Indianola music spots soaking up the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Robert Nighthawk. At that time, he decided he would attempt to play blues rather than gospel. After the war, King moved in with Bukka White in Memphis and caught his first break in 1948 performing on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, Tenn. It led to engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill and later a 10-minute spot on black-staffed and managed Memphis radio station WDIA. He was billed as Riley King, the Blues Boy from Beale Street, later shortened to the Blues Boy and then just B.B. King’s first record deal was with the small Nashville label Bullet Records, his first single being “Miss Martha King,” written for his first wife. That led to a deal in 1949 with the Bihari Brothers, whose labels included RPM, Modern and Kent, and quickly found success.

His first hit, “3 O’Clock Blues,”was recorded at the Memphis YMCA in 1951 with Ike Turner on piano. It spent 17 weeks on the Top R&B Singles chart, five of them at No. 1, leading to King signing with Universal Attractions and getting booked nationally at theaters that catered to African-American audiences, among them: New York’s Apollo Theatre and Washington, D.C.’s Howard Theater. Like many blues artists of the period, King did not receive his fair share of profits as writing credits on some of his songs listed him alongside Joe Josea, Jules Taub and Sam Ling. “Some of the songs I wrote, they added a name when I copyrighted it," King told Blues Access magazine. "There was no such thing as Ling or Josea. No such thing. That way, the company could claim half of your song.” In the early 1960s, King signed with ABC-Paramount, then home to Ray Charles, and his records took on a more sophisticated tone mostly due to him working with arrangers for the first time. His 1965 concert album Live at the Regal, recorded in Chicago, became a hallmark concert LP.

In February 1967, King was booked on a bill at the Fillmore Auditorium in san Francisco with Moby Grape and the Steve Miller Band, a booking King thought was a mistake after he arrived, having never played to an all-white audience. Miller and promoter Bill Graham were big fans who wanted him on the bill. "We were all just thrilled to the core," Miller said in B.B. King Treasures. "It was a very emotional night. He had tears in his eyes because the audience, as soon as B.B. came out on stage, just stood up and gave him a standing ovation." King recalled it as the night he was viewed as a musician instead of as a blues singer. It also led to King meeting and performing with the white blues-rock musicians, among them Bloomfield, Al Kooper and the Blues Project and Clapton, who told journalists the highlight of his first visit to the U.S. was meeting King. Sid Seidenberg, King's accountant who became his manger in 1967, took control of the guitarist's career to get King ahead of the IRS, to which he owed $1 million.

Seidenberg cut King's band in half to five pieces, got him signed with the Associated Booking Corp. and got him booked into rock ballrooms and opening for the Rolling Stones, which led to appearances on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1969, he scored his first hit single. "I had been carrying 'The Thrill is Gone' around for seven or eight years," King said in the liner notes of King of the Blues. "Had tried it many times, but it would never come out like I wanted it. "We were in the studio from about 10 o'clock to 3 in the morning and had done 'The Thrill' and a couple others. Funny thing was, [producer] Bill Szymczyk didn't like it at first. About five in the morning he calls me ....

he says 'I've got this idea to put strings on "Thrill" ' and I said 'fine.' About two weeks later he got Bert de Coteaux to put strong son it and it really did enhance it." Gibson Guitars at Americana Awards Gibson Guitars at Americana Awards Ted Drozdowski | 09.17.2015 The umbrella roots music genre called Americana celebrated its best and brightest with the 14th Annual Americana Honors & Awards Celebration on Wednesday, September 16, on stage at the historic Ryman Auditorium. And Gibson guitars played a vital role in many of the night’s vibrant performances.

Americana guitar hero Jason Isbell wielded an ES-335; Lucinda Williams (who won album of the year for her Down Where The Spirit Meets the Bone) and signature artist John Hiatt performed with J-45 acoustics; Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (who were presented with a lifetime achievement award for songwriting) strummed and picked a J-50 and a 1935 Epiphone Olympic arch top respectively; and a host of players including MVP session man and six-string experimentalist Marc Ribot played 00 models. But the high point of the evening for Gibson guitar and blues lovers was a heartfelt tribute to B.B. King by his friend Keb' Mo' . King would have turned 90 on the day of the show and was honored by the Americana Music Association with its President’s Award. With a semi-hollowbody guitar in his hands and one of King’s beloved Gibson Lucille models on a stand at his side, Mo’ tore through a high-spirited version of King’s 1964 classic “How Blue Can You Get” after speaking to the near-sell-out crowd about his late friend and mentor.

Other guitar highlights included an appearance by Ry Cooder backing Hiatt, acoustic interplay between Ribot and house bandleader Buddy Miller, and a performance by Los Lobos, who received a lifetime achievement award for performance. Pic: Don Henley get the trailblazer award. Other award winners included: • Sturgill Simpson, for artist of the year. • the Mavericks, for duo or group of the year • Sturgill Simpson’s “Turtles All the Way Down,” for song of the year • Shakey Graves, for emerging artist of the year • John Leventhal, for instrumentalist of the year • Buffy Sainte-Marie, honored with the Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music Award • Don Henley, honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Trailblazer • Ricky Skaggs, honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist

Question: Which US born blues musician has a Gibson guitar called Lucille?
Answer: B. B. King